NEW DELHI: After warning Britain that its failure to recognise Indian vaccine certificates could lead to reciprocal action, India on Friday walked its talk, imposing mandatory quarantine on visiting UK nationals.
According to the new guidelines that will come into effect from Monday (October 4), UK nationals, irrespective of their vaccination status, must take a pre-departure RT-PCR test within 72 hours of travel; a Covid test upon arrival at any airport in the country; and a test on the eighth day of their arrival.
"UK nationals will also have to undergo quarantine at home or in the destination address for 10 days after arrival in India," sources said.
Authorities in the Union health ministry and the ministry of civil aviation have been tasked with implementing the new measures. The decision comes weeks after Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla called out the UK's travel guidelines that imposed mandatory quarantine from October 4 on even double-jabbed fliers from countries that were not on its approved list, including India.
He said they were discriminatory, adding New Delhi could impose reciprocal measures for British travellers if the UK did not recognise vaccine certificates issued by the National Health Authority’s CoWin app.
Trouble emerged when initially Britain did not include Serum Institute of India-manufactured Covishield on its list of approved vaccines. Days later after uproar, the vaccine, which was developed by University of Oxford and pharma giant AstraZeneca, was added to the UK list of approved vaccines.
However, the UK government said arrivals from India would still need to undergo mandatory quarantine as there were issues with the vaccine certificates being issued. British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis subsequently held a meeting with National Health Authority CEO RS Sharma and said neither side has any technical issues with the vaccine certificates. Yet, the matter remains unresolved.
Later in the day, a British embassy spokesperson in Delhi said his country is continuing to engage with New Delhi on technical cooperation to expand UK’s recognition basket of vaccine certification. The Indian side, too, indicated that Britain has till Monday to settle the dispute amicably.
(With inputs from Online Desk)